Clothesline



W. PAU Ll CLOTHESLINE Oct. 6, 1936.

Filed Feb. 5, 1936 INVENT'OR Wim Pa wLL BY mm ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 6,1936 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE CLOTHESLINE William Pauli. Sacramento,Calif. Application February 3, 1936, Serial No. 62,054

1 Claim.

This invention relates generally to clotheslines and is directedparticularly to a clothesline from which laundry and the like may besuspended without the use of clothespins of any character.

In the use of an ordinary clothesline, it is the usual practice tosecure the laundry to the line by clothespins and when the laundry isbeing placed on the clothesline or removed therefrom,

there is always the problem of keeping the hands free and yet providingmeans for a convenient supply or disposal of the clothespins.

It is therefore my principal object to provide a clothesline which,while requiring no clothespins, will positively and effectively griparticles structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fullyappear by a perusal of the following specification and claim.

In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the several views:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved form of clothesline.

Fig. 2 is a top plan partially in section of the swinging yoke andspreader disc.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the spreader disc and yoke unit.

Fig. 4 isan elevation of a modiiied form of my invention.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawing and particularly, at present, to Figs. 1 to 3, numeral lindicates an endless clothesline formed of two separate endless strandsof wire twisted together on a long pitch in the manner illustrated inFig. 1.

This endless clothesline is trained between pulleys 2 which arerotatably mounted in frames 3. One of these frames is provided with asecuring bracket 4 while the other is adapted to be suspended by meansof a ring 5 in the conventional manner.

A swinging yoke 6 is hinged to the bracket 4 adjacent the lower portionof the corresponding pulley 2 and extends away from the bracket.

A circular band l is 'secured on and between the outer ends of the armsof the yoke with its of laundry and hold them suspended therefrom.v

axis parallel to the arms. Turnable within the band is a spreader disc8; antifriction bearing means 9 being disposed between the band and discto promote ease of rotation of the latter. The axis of the disc is thussubstantially paral- 5 lel to the lower reach of the clothesline. 'I'hisspreader disc is formed with two relatively widely spaced openings IU onOpposite sides of and parallel to its axis; each endless strand of wirecomprising the clothesline being threaded through one of said openings.This causes the two strands comprising the clotheslines to separate forsome distance on leach side of the spreader disc as clearly shown inFig. 1. Since the disc is free to rotate, its holes conform in positionto the natural pitch of the line twists, so that the necessaryspringiness of the line, tending to cause it to retain its twisted form,is not disturbed.

In use, the bracket 4 is secured to a suitable support and the frame 3is suspended by ring 5 from any other suitable support sonfe distanceaway from the support to which the bracket is secured. A spring (notshown) may be disposed between ring 5 and the adjacent support, ifdesired. in order to maintain proper tension on the clothesline.

To secure articles of laundry to the clothesline, without the use ofclothespins, it is only necessary to place a portion of the articlesbetween the separated strands immediately beyond the spreader disc andto then move that portion of the clothesline away from the disc. Withsuch movement, the separated strands again assume a twisted positionthereby firmly gripping the article. This procedure is repeated for eachpoint of suspension desired. The spreader disc, of course, rotates asthe clothesline moves along and thereby causes a continued spreading ofthe twisted strands at a point immediately beyond the spreader disc.

To remove the articles from the clothesline, the clothesline is movedtowards the spreader disc and as each portion of an article grippedbetween the twisted strands approaches the disc, the lines will separateand release that portion of the article.

The device illustrated in Fig. 4 is a modified form of my invention andcomprises a non-movable clothesline Ia adapted to be suspended betweentwo spaced supports. This clothesline la is also formed of two singlestrands of wire twisted together as in the preferred form of theinvention. A spreader disc and supporting band. unit la of the samecharacter as heretofore described is slidable along the clothesline;each 55 strand being threaded through one of the spaced openingstherein.

In use, the articles to be suspended from the line are attached in themanner described relative to the device illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 withthe exception that the disc supporting band is not attached to any yokeor other support, and is grasped and moved along the line by hand, sothat the spreader disc is moved in the same direction as well asrotating, instead of the line moving through the relatively stationarydisc, as in the rst described type.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fullls the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by*i 5 clothesline is trained, a yoke pivoted at oneend 10 adjacent one pulley and extending along the lower reach of theclothesline, and a rotatable disc mounted on the outer end of the yoke,said disc having spaced openings therethrough substantially parallel tothe axis of the disc; each 15 opening having one strand of wire threadedtherethrough.

WILLIAM PAULI.

